I recently bought a 14-part DVD set on World War II which I thought would be the perfect gift for my dad, the ultimate war junkie. Up until this week, I never knew how deep into war history he really was. He said he used to read about WW2 during his pre-college days and was fascinated by it so much he bought himself lots of books about the topic. My dad likes to joke around, and I thought this was just another one of his pasikat moments.

He was here in Manila again this week. After our traditional Max’s dinner, I gave him a short quiz on WW2 facts. He did say he bought those books way before his college days, so that would make them books 40+ years old. Mind you, I’m a war/history junkie myself (I’d gladly give up MTV for the History Channel) and I’ve read pages and pages of text about almost every theater of WW2, so I didn’t expect my dad to get past the Easy round.

I stayed away from the regular textbook events of the war and concentrated my questions to the forgotten, less glamorous aspects of the war. Now my dad’s not that old, but I really didn’t expect him to remember the answers to the questions I dished out. Boy did he bring me to school. Not only did Dad answer my questions, he gave me side stories to the events of WW2 which I had missed out. He’s that good.

His fascination with WW2 could be attributed to his own dad who was a distinguished guerilla officer during WW2. My grandfather died when my dad was still in high school. I can see how by looking at and appreciating the experiences of others during WW2, he comes to honor his father.

So Dad, paano, best of 10? :)